Bienvenue parmi nous

Perhaps waiting until the very last movie wasn't the best idea on the part of my group. Perhaps I should not have chosen to go with a group of friends as lazy as I am. Perhaps it worked out the best either way. As the snow started coming down on Sunday, we didn't actually think that it would start to stick, it had been 50 degrees the day prior. But, as the clock kept approaching seven, the snow kept accumulating and the two mile walk seemed less and less enjoyable. Surprisingly, the walk wasn't bad. I'm actually kind of glad it snowed, the little side streets of the fan seem completely different and showed another side to Richmond. This town is certainly interesting.

It's safe to say the movie was well worth the trek, though. I had read the summary before leaving, thinking it to be a typical movie of middle age angst. "Bienvenue parmi nous" (Or "Welcome Aboard") definitely blew away any expectation I had about it. The story starts with 60 year old painter Taillandier living his bland daily routine, and then leaving because he "couldn't take it." (It being his repetitive, seemingly mundane life in slump shown in the beginning.) From his darkest moment of being a twitch away from a suicide he couldn't bear himself to commit, he finds a teenager named Marylou who has her own share of problems to be faced. The movie focuses mainly on Taillandier though, showing Marylou through his interactions with her. At first, their partnership is shakey and confusing (the artists make light of the sight of a sixty year old man and a teenager going for hotel rooms), and growing into a father-daughter relationship. After settling on a beachside property, Taillandier finds an inspiration to draw again, rekindled with the help of his new acquaintance. At the same time, the writers do a great job of showing his health and mood gradually improve as he stays at the house. He even has enough energy to defend Marylou from a group of local guys with malicious intentions. The movie starts to conclude soon afterwards with news that Marylou's mother was severely injured by her abusive boyfriend, causing both Marylou and Taillandier to return from their retreats in better state than they left. While recovering, Marylou was able to stay with Taillandier and his wife in temporary custody, making him seem even more like a father figure. The movie ends with tears as they part, but generally there are good feelings involved.

The plot is not something I can do justice by this simple summary, however. The writers of this movie do an incredible job of character development as well as plot development, making the audience feel connected not only to the characters but as well as the story that they're living. It is quite possibly one of the best movies I have seen, and I would recommend it to anyone with the ability to sympathize or empathize. A view of this movie which I though especially interesting being a musician, is that the story is a sort of metaphor for the development of an artist as explained by Taillandier. He says that the aspiring artists first "mimics, steals, and takes" ideas that they find interesting until they find something that captivates them, a muse of sorts. The creative bursts that follows will help define them as artists, until they find another muse. In this story you have Taillandier, an artist in a 10 year strong slump of repeating the same paintings, who finds inspiration in his new companion. That is just my view however. I deeply encourage whoever is reading this to watch that movie and find out for themselves.